Police seek to question arrested ex-Bengal minister’s wife in fake Durga Puja pass scam

Kolkata: Investigators probing the alleged fake Durga Puja pass scam involving tours marketed under the UNESCO tag now plan to question Madhuchhanda Sen, wife of arrested former West Bengal minister Indranil Sen, whose company allegedly sold the passes.

The move follows the arrest earlier this week of Sen, a former tourism minister and former Minister of State for Information and Cultural Affairs, in connection with the alleged scam. Investigators suspect that the fake passes were sold through Mass Art, a corporate entity owned by his wife, Madhuchhanda Sen.

However, the city police will not be able to take Madhuchhanda Sen into custody if she is questioned, as the Calcutta High Court has granted her anticipatory bail in the case.

Police sources said a decision is yet to be taken on whether she would be summoned to the Kolkata Police headquarters at Lalbazar in central Kolkata or whether investigators would visit her residence to question her as part of the ongoing probe.

The investigating team is also scrutinising the bank accounts of Sen, his wife, their daughters and some close relatives, a police source said. Investigators are examining whether shell companies were floated or used to divert funds allegedly collected through the operation.

Sen is currently in police custody and is being questioned for several hours each day. He is scheduled to be produced before a city court again on November 10. He is the fifth former minister of the previous Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal to be arrested.

During arguments before the city court, the public prosecutor said Mass Art, owned by Madhuchhanda Sen, had signed an agreement with UNESCO in 2025. The prosecutor alleged that the organisation had marketed and sold Durga Puja tour packages using the UNESCO tag between 2022 and 2025, despite restrictions on the commercial use of the organisation's logo.

The prosecutor further told the court that money was transferred to the former minister's bank account on the same day that collections were deposited into Mass Art's account.

The Kolkata Police and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are conducting parallel investigations into the alleged fake pass scam linked to UNESCO-tagged festival tours.

Sen was arrested by city police earlier this week after he emerged from the ED's Salt Lake office, on Kolkata's northern outskirts, where he had undergone marathon questioning in connection with the same case.

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